MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan Deputy Foreign Minister resigns over passport issuance scandal

Ache insisted measures beyond those required by law, such as sending the information to Interpol in due time had been taken

Carolina Ache Batlle Monday turned in her resignation as Uruguay's Deputy Foreign Minister following her involvement in the scandalous granting of a passport to well-known drug trafficker Sebastián Marset. On accepting her resignation, President Luis Lacalle Pou insisted he trusted the departing official.

Ache Batlle made her decision after it was known that the so-called Ciudadanos faction of her Colorado Party was planning a no-confidence decision. The Colorado Party and the National (White) Party made up the bulk of Lacalle's ruling Multicolor coalition.

“The circumstance that the Ciudadanos sector of the Colorado Party is currently evaluating the possibility of withdrawing their confidence in me determines that I come to present my resignation from the position of Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Ache wrote.

In her note, Ache acknowledges “the controversy” generated around her texting with the Undersecretary of the Interior Guillermo Maciel regarding the processing of Marset's passport. Maciel warned her of the dangerousness of the applicant, whose lawyer Alejandro Balbi had been seen in Ache's office.

According to Ache, ”the Uruguayan State was forced to grant the referred document and the established procedures were zealously complied with, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRREE) even took measures beyond those required by law, such as sending the information to Interpol in due time.“

”I dedicated my best efforts to serve the Uruguayans and the coalition government. My special thanks to you, Mr. President of the Republic, to the Secretary General of the Colorado Party, [former two-time President] Julio María Sanguinetti, and to all the members of my Colorado Party, for their confidence until this day,“ Ache also wrote.

”My statement of support did not change because I had no elements until now to change my mind,“ Lacalle said Monday during a press conference in Carmelo.

Regarding Ache's replacement, Lacalle said that the political quota of the Colorado Party would be respected, but warned that the new appointment will take ”a little while.”